Marina Zenovich, the director of the 2008 documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” says the court of public opinion should not decide if the “Chinatown” director is expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over the sexual abuse case that led him to flee the United States 40 years ago.
“I think that the Academy should decide; I don’t think that Twitter should decide,” Zenovich told TheWrap’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman at the Sundance Film Festival.
Zenovich is at Sundance for the premiere of her latest documentary, “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind,” a look at the late comedian’s career. But 10 years ago, she earned rave reviews for “Wanted and Desired,” a documentary that explored the controversial 1977 case in which Polanski was charged with sexually assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Galley. As sexual misconduct in Hollywood has taken over the conversation as a result of the #MeToo campaign, Polanski, along with other auteurs with long-known accusations of abuse have come under renewed scrutiny.
But Zenovich thinks there are degrees of severity to the offenses, and she doesn’t think that Polanski’s case has reached the level of other accused Hollywood figures like Harvey Weinstein, who was ousted from the Academy over sexual misconduct and assault accusations made by over 80 women.
“It’s such a complicated, nuanced situation,” explained Zenovich. “But in regards to Roman, I don’t know how many times he did something […] if he did this more than one time, which perhaps he did, then it’s up to the Academy to decide. It’s not up to me.”
Watch Zenovich’s remarks in the clip above.